Oscillating Kinetic Training With The Earthquake Bar
The Earthquake Bar provides oscillating kinetic energy that significantly challenges an athlete's shoulders and upper body with just a small amount of weight added to the bar. Considering the overall weight of the barbell is kept low, this allows the smaller muscle groups that make up the rotator cuff to benefit maximally.
Fitness & Nutrition Tips For Traveling
Many people flounder to stay committed to their fitness and nutrition while traveling. This is especially true for holiday and business travel. While each travel type presents its own unique challenges, let's explore several tips to stay focused with proper food management and prioritising exercise.
The Optimum Training Approach For Women Over 40
For women over the age of 40, losing weight and keeping a toned body can be tricky. Many women who have never experienced maintaining their size and shape find that in their 40’s, all bets are off. While eating a healthy diet may help lessen the rate of weight gain, regular exercise is necessary to maintain your desired weight; the type of activity you perform matters most.
Four Ways Mature Adults Can Benefit From Personal Coaching
Being physically fit in your 20s and 30s helps you improve and maintain your overall health. During your golden years, you still need to find the time to commit to performing regular physical activities. It is common for some older adults to lose the motivation to exercise. They might also think that maintaining a fitness regime is no longer relevant or their lives just become too busy with work commitments and family time .
Poseidon Virtual
People have busy lives and time is a premium. They desire affordable access to a professional trainer who can maximise their time and optimise their workout needs. Because of this issue we have come up with an affordable solution to solve this problem.
Poseidon Group gives people affordable access to a professional coach who not only create custom exercise programs but also keeps them accountable with communication and positive reinforcement.
Age is NOT a disability….
And getting older should NEVER be an excuse NOT to live your best life for the rest of your life. But HEALTHY ageing does require intelligent EXERCISE efforts that unlock the key to achieving true performance and longevity at ANY age. And the more we continue to learn about healthy AGEING the more clear it becomes that
There is key performance indicators that have credible scientific reviews to predict life expectancy. In this blog, I have listed 5 physical tests that had been found to predict longevity and independent living.
Advanced Core Training
Athlete looking to perform at the highest level, need to advance their core training even further and should consider using the following exercise modifications in your training.
Paused Deadlifts
Zombie Front Squats
Squats with Chains
Cluster Training
"The best method to get stronger is clusters," Charles Poliquin
A cluster is an ensemble of several single reps with short-to-moderate rest intervals. For example, a cluster set could be a series of 5-7 heavy singles.
Complete one rep, rest for around 15-20 seconds, do another rep, rest 15-20 seconds, then do another rep. You do that until you get too five with a weight you'd normally only lift three times.
I have used it with a lot of pro athletes, international level amateur athletes, and strength athletes. The results are always impressive.
The "traditional" Poliquin approach doesn’t always work well. Some athletes (the stronger, more advanced lifters) often can’t get five cluster reps with their three-rep max. Some would burn-out. In fact, some need to use less weight than their 3RM.
Strength Training for Pain & Injury Rehab
It has been said that exercise is the closest thing there is to a miracle cure. “All the evidence suggests small amounts of regular exercise (five times a week for 30 minutes each time for adults) brings dramatic benefits,” we “age well” when we are active (Gopinath): less anxiety (Schuch), prevention of dementia (Smith) and a laundry list of other diseases (Pedersen), and as little as just 10 minutes per week might push back
Strength and Hypertrophy Training with Blood Flow Restriction (BFR)
Blood flow restriction (BFR) training in which a tourniquet is used on a proximal limb to limit arterial inflow while blocking venous outflow has consistently demonstrated strength and hypertrophy gains and comparable to heavy load lifting.
Differences Between Sports Therapy & Physiotherapy
The two professions share many similarities and overlap in their treatment programmes which leads to patients being unsure whether they would be best suited to physiotherapy or sports therapy. However, there are some key differences:
Sports therapists generally have more exposure to sporting environments at an undergraduate level making them ideal for preventing sports injuries through specific strengthening programmes.
Sports therapy, focuses more on whether that the patient has returned to or can maintain the required physical level for whatever sporting activity they would like to carry out. Physiotherapy on the other hand, attempts to rehabilitate patients to allow them to feel comfortable and cope in their day-to-day life,
As Sports therapists focus solely on musculoskeletal rehabilitation and have a sports-focused background, it makes them attractive to patients who are aiming to return to exercise.
Physiotherapists have a broader knowledge base and medical background, which allows them to treat illnesses, diseases, neurological and respiratory issues. This makes them ideal for treating a wide range of patients, including complex patients with multiple conditions.
Velocity Based Training
Without overstating the obvious, as the load increases (with the intent to lift it as fast as possible) the speed decreases in a linear fashion. This is a fundamental tenet on which Velocity based training (VBT) principles operate – the load-velocity relationship. The relationship between load and velocity in simple strength exercises such as the squat and bench press is extremely stable and very strong. The relationship holds true regardless of strength level and after increases or decreases in strength. Irrespective of strength level or experience, the load-velocity relationship holds true and is at the core of VBT methods for maximal strength development
Velocity-Based Training in the Weight Room: Why I PUSH
How do you measure the bar velocity accurately? You could use linear regression equations to predict the bar velocity based on the percentage of the 1RM or you could tell your athlete to move the bar as fast as possible or you could measure it accurately with implementing linear position transducers (LPTs) .
Enter PUSH, a new wearable technology consisting of an accelerometer and gyroscope packed into a small armband. While this technology has been around and used in the weight room before, PUSH is the first device I have come across that address all five of my above-listed requirements.
Training Explosive Strength
There are many things to consider for improving sports performance. An athlete must become stronger and at the same time faster. The majority of this training is combining maximal effort exercises to increase the strength potential of the muscles, while training with light weights will lead to improving speed
Critical Review of The Pose® Running Technique
It is vital to appreciate the characteristics of an efficient and economical running gait to understand the context in which the results of the study have been discussed. An efficient running gait has been described in recent research as having an optimal stride frequency and vertical impulse amplitude relationship (Bramble & Lieberman, 2004; Williams & Cavanagh, 1987). Efficient runners display a longer stride with minimal vertical impulse, allowing enough vertical impulse to overcome gravity and reposition the limbs without excessive CoM oscillation.
Sled Work for Strength and GPP
One of the most functional and cost effective pieces of equipment a gym can have is a sled. When utilised correctly, the sled offers multiple ways to enhance your General Physical Preparation (GPP) levels and expand the base of your strength pyramid.
As an athlete, maintaining and exceeding the GPP level needed to compete in your sport is essential if you want to improve sport performance.
You want to be a Royal Marine Commando?
The thirty-two week Royal Marines (RM) training course is recognised as one of the most arduous military training programs in the world (1). The course is both mentally and physically challenging, with approximately 16% of recruits sustain an injury (2), and only 54% of candidates actually completing the course (3).
Other international military personal can attend the All Arms Commando Course (AACC). This is a 13 week course at Commando Training Centre Royal Marine (CTCRM), with the aim of preparing Navy, Army or Air Force personnel for service with 3 Cdo Bde RM by developing the temperament, mental resolve, physical robustness and core military skills necessary in the demanding environment of expeditionary and littoral operations.
Rebuilding The Core
When returning from a back injury, we must take a logical and planned approach. Selecting exercises that help facilitate the healing process without placing excessive load on the spine that re-create symptoms and fairs up the injury. Performing anti-rotation exercises before one can successfully squat with light weight can often have negative consequences. Exercises that create a rotational force on the body (such as: pallof press) can place upwards of four times as much compression on the spine compared to the same weight that attempts to create a flexion/extension force.
The following is a logical progression of stability exercises that stress the body first through a sagittal plane (flexion/extension torque), then a frontal plane (lateral torque) and finally through a transverse plane (torsional torque). While there is no such thing as an ideal set of exercises for any rehabilitation program, the following exercises can be a good starting point for creating a plan that best suits your body type and performance requirements.
Learn The Hip Hinge!
One of the most common reasons for developing lower back pain is the inability to properly move from the hips. From bending over to lift something off the ground to squatting. The majority of people who develop lower back pain have allowed their lower back to compensate for lack of mobility in the hips. This has progressively allowed the lumbar spine to move excessively and become unstable. Learning to move from the hips and keep the spine stable with core stiffness is fundamental in optimal movement patterns and rebuilding the correct movement pattern.
To perform a correct hip hinge, start in a standing position with your hands straight in front of you (zombie stance). Grip the ground with your feet (driving the big toe into the ground) and feel for your bodyweight spread evenly across your entire foot (tripod foot). Drive your knees out to the side to engage your lateral glutes (make sure to keep your foot firmly glued to the ground and your big toe in contact with the floor). Using a small resistance band loop across your knees can be great in the early learning process to teach your body how to create sufficient tension in these lateral hip muscles.
Back to Basics
Before we look at each of the recommended core stability exercises, it’s important to understand the difference between flexibility and mobility!
Flexibility is the ability of a muscle or muscle groups to lengthen passively through a range of motion
Mobility is the ability of a joint to move actively through a range of motion
It should be a priority to address any significant mobility restrictions at the hip and thoracic spine. If mobility in either of these areas is restricted it can lead to movement compensations at the low back. If hip mobility is limited during the squat the pelvis can be pulled under creating posterior pelvic tilt as the lumber spine will have to compensate for the lack of mobility at the hips. This will place flexion under load on the Lumber spine which will place excessive stress on the discs.
If you only performed isometric core stability work but neglect significant mobility restrictions in the joints above or below the lumbar spine, the core stiffness you created will be compromised.
